A tourist complimented the local fishermen on the quality of their fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

"Not very long." they answered in unison.

"Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?"

The fishermen explained that their small catches were sufficient to meet their needs and those of their families.

"But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

"We sleep late, fish a little, play with our children, and take siestas with our wives. In the evenings, we go into the village to see our friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. We have a full life."

The tourist interrupted, "I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you!

You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat."

"And after that?"

"With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant.

You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City!

From there you can direct your huge new enterprise."

"How long would that take?"

"Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years." replied the tourist.

"And after that?"

"Afterwards? Well my friend, that's when it gets really interesting," answered the tourist, laughing. "When your business gets really big, you can start buying and selling stocks and make millions!"

"Millions? Really? And after that?" asked the fishermen.

"After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast,

sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends."

"With all due respect sir, but that's exactly what we are doing now. So what's the point wasting twenty-five years?" asked the Mexicans.

Here is a YouTube video I came across while browsing the internet. I found it informative and interesting. Hence would like to share it with you all here in my blog.

About the video:

In his quarter century of working in Silicon Valley at such companies as Apple, @Home, and Google, CMC Alum Jonathan Rosenberg has had ample opportunity to watch successful people in action. He will share his observations on what makes great people tick and draw conclusions on how a liberal arts education can arm the next generation of leaders. His talk will include a set of "rules" that promise to be excellent preparation for any student who plan at some point to enter the real world.

‘Be a leader’, ‘Hone your leadership skills’ etc are common jargons we hear in our day to day lives. It might not be a surprising fact for most of us that it is one of the hot selling topics in today’s world. It is the central theme of most of the self-help books and courses out there in the market. Again, I won’t be wrong to assume that all of us at some point or the other in our lives have made use of one of those books or courses. But have you ever asked yourself the question - ‘Who is a leader?’

Today I decided to ask myself the question. After musing over this for a long time, I came up with the following:-

A true leader should be someone who is capable of leading his team differently, as per the situation warrants. The first situation is when everything is going fine and the team is inching towards victory without major troubles. The true leader should then be ready to play the second fiddle to his teammates. He should let his teammates’ march ahead and let them collect the credits for their hard work.

The second situation is when things are not happening as per the plan and the team is facing hardships and is finding it difficult to advance towards its goal. The true leader should then lead the team from the front, guiding the teammates with expertise and skills, making use of his or her rich experience.

How many of the so-called-leaders-of-today fit this description? Does today’s management education help bring to life the true-leader lying dormant within us? Are there room for improvement? Let us contemplate this thought and aim at becoming the true leaders of tomorrow…

Following is the 30 second Speech by Bryan Dyson (CEO of Coca Cola, USA)

"Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them - Work, Family, Health, Friends and Spirit and you're keeping all of these in the Air.

You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back.

But the other four Balls - Family, Health, Friends and Spirit - are made of glass. If you drop one of these; they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for it."

This is really apt for today's corporate life where 'Work-Life Balance' is (almost) non-existent.

Footnote: I know, upon speaking to many companies, that many of them are now starting to worry about 'Work-Life Balance'. Recently I spoke to a company's (one of the world's biggest consulting companies) top management, who told me that they have now incentive structures in place to prevent their employees from working over weekends. It was amazing to hear about it.